Academy Tales
by EvanescentBlue
Summary: A series of oneshots based on the game Magical Starsign.
1. Under the Moonlight

Title: Under the Moonlight

Characters: Alaric, Lassi

Summary: Lassi and Alaric share a small moment while everyone else is asleep.

* * *

Deep within the forests of Gren, the strange, magical space rocket Neumann sat quietly in a large clearing surrounded by flowering shrubs and tall, exotic trees. Night had fallen over the Wood planet, but even so the forest was far from silent. It didn't matter if it was the barren mountains of Erd or the windy plains of Puffoon - as long as there was life, no planet would ever be completely silent, even at night.

Lassi tossed and turned restlessly in her bed, which was actually one of the couches in the lounge that made up half of the rocket's lower level. Ever since she had left Will-O-Wisp she had had no trouble sleeping, despite her ever changing surroundings. If anything, the constant exposure to danger simply enhanced her ability to sleep, for while emerging victorious from a battle filled her with a sense of joy and fulfillment, it also made use of her energy in ways that were simply not possible while at the Academy.

Today the friends had gone deep into Carbonara Jungle, making it all the way to salamander territory before warping back to the rocket to rest. They had had to force their way through twin totems created solely for the purpose of keeping away wizards, and Lassi had been casting Healing Wing nonstop while her companions were forced to batter away at the magic-proof totems with their hands and feet while living bombs rained down on them from above. When she went to bed she had expected to fall asleep immediately, like she always did, but for some reason sleep simply didn't come.

After a few more moments the young rabbitmorph mage sighed and sat up, shoving her blankets to one side and hopping to the floor. Instinctively Lassi glanced at a couch on the other side of the lounge, only to find that it was empty aside from a few slightly wrinkled blankets.

Lassi padded silently to the ladder, taking care not to disturb any of her sleeping companions, and nimbly climbed to the upper level, the control center of the rocket. Through the large windshields she could see a path leading off into the forest, disappearing into the darkness while the trees around it stood abnormally still, casting unmoving shadows on the ground.

Then her attention was drawn to the hatch, and to her surprise she saw the unofficial leader of their group, Alaric, sitting at the edge with his legs dangling outside. The Dark mage was staring up at the night sky, and he seemed to be emitting a faint, purplish light.

"Alaric?"

The human boy jumped slightly and turned. "Oh, Lassi! Sorry, I didn't hear you." He scooted to the side and drew his knees to his chest, making room for Lassi to sit next to him. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I can ask you the same thing." Lassi plopped down on the floor and fiddled with her sleeve - the silent, shadowy forest pressing in on all sides was making her nervous.

Alaric laughed. "I'm always awake at this hour - you just don't notice because you're always asleep." He raised a finger and pointed up at the star filled sky. "Dark magic thrives at night, so I don't need as much sleep as you guys do."

"Oh. Well, duh." Lassi propped her chin in her hand and looked closely at Alaric as the boy turned to look up at the sky again. Alaric was pale, almost unhealthily so, with a constant attack of bedhair and dark eyes which were somehow both mournful and joyful at the same time. Of their group of friends back at the Academy, Alaric was always the kindest, the funniest, the most powerful...good at almost everything he tried, but also modest and somewhat passive. Lassi had taken an instant liking to him when they met on the first day of school, and if she had ever had a crush on anyone, it would be him. Not that she would ever tell him.

"Is there something on my face?" Alaric inquired, giving her a curious look.

Lassi jumped and turned away hastily so that he wouldn't see the blush creeping across her features. "N-no...it's nothing." She glanced at him, taking in his amused and somewhat confused smile, and blushed again. _Why _did he have to be so cute? Tearing her eyes away from his face, her gaze fell on his hand, which was resting on the floor.

"Ah! Your hand!" Lassi screeched, grabbing the offending appendage and holding it up so she could examine it better. Alaric's expression became one of pure confusion.

"What about it?"

"Why didn't you say you were hurt? I know Neumann's healing pad is kinda wacky at the moment, but we could've found an HP pot or at least talked to the villagers..." Lassi's rambling jerked to a halt when she spotted Alaric's arms, which were normally hidden by the long sleeves of the latter's jacket. Now that Alaric was wearing only a short-sleeved shirt, however, the burns on his arms were quite visible. Alaric's jacket was enchanted so that it was indestructible, but that merely meant that any harm done to the jacket went and got inflicted on Alaric himself. And if Lassi remembered correctly, Alaric had been shielding himself from the bombs with nothing but his arms...

"It's...nothing," Alaric said with a tiny smile as he made to extract his hand. Lassi released it, staring intently at her friend. Then she grumbled and threw her arms around him, burying her head in his chest. "Um...Lassi? What are-" His sentence was cut off as a spell circle blossomed around them, surrounding the pair with Wind sigils.

"Healing you. What else?" Lassi felt Alaric stiffen momentarily, then relax completely as her spell took effect. Golden rings surrounded them, and as Lassi watched the burns on Alaric's arms shimmered and faded away, leaving not even a single scar to indicate that they had ever been there. Once the scratches on his hands healed as well, the healing circle disappeared and Lassi hurried to catch Alaric as he toppled over.

"It seems...that I'm more tired than I thought." Alaric said with a quiet laugh, leaning against the wall and just barely managing to keep his eyes open.

"Ohmigosh! I'm so sorry!" Lassi exclaimed. "I think I accidentally used up your mana instead of mine...seeing as we were so close and all..." She blushed again and turned away. Alaric's eyesight was uncannily keen, even in the dark, and she hoped that he was too tired to pay much attention to such trivial details.

"It's...fine." Either Alaric hadn't noticed or he was being tactful and keeping it to himself. "I guess I need the rest anyway."

"Mmm." Lassi stared at the floor for a moment, then rummaged around in her pocket, pulling out a small, pinkish, glittery star. "Here! Why don't you take a sugarstar? You know - just to help restore your mana and stuff. You're already weakened by sunlight, so it'll be really stupid to weaken you even more." Suddenly realizing what she had just said, Lassi yelped and added hurriedly, "I'm not saying you're weak or anything! I mean, you're one of the Academy's top apprentices! Uh..."

Alaric laughed. "I know what you're saying. Thanks." His eyes met hers and she was momentarily struck speechless. Then, shaking her head, Lassi tossed the sugarstar up into the air and uttered a quick word. The sugarstar dissolved into a shower of sparkles which spiraled rapidly around Alaric, seeping into his skin and sending him into a trance. If Alaric was wide awake the trance would do nothing to hinder other movements, but now that he was tired the trance simply sent him into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Lassi sat there for a few more minutes, watching Alaric as he slept. She had never seen him sleep before - or seen him succumb to weakness and tiredness, for that matter - and it was rather refreshing. His Dark aura remained on him even when he slept, which she found intriguing. With the rest of them, if their planets were in alignment then they aquired auras of their own, but those auras always went away when they were asleep or unconcious. Perhaps the powers of Light and Dark were more different than they believed.

"Good night, Alaric." Lassi murmured. She dragged a blanket out of the storage closet and flung it over her friend. Then, after a moment's hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the forehead.


	2. Space Police HQ

Title: Space Police HQ

Characters: Alaric, Lassi, Mokka

Summary: The three friends finally make it to Space Police Headquarters.

* * *

"What kind of questionnaire _is _this?" Lassi exclaimed as she rifled through the thick pile of paper on her lap. "I understand the name, date of birth, and home planet stuff, but what do they want our favorite movie star for? Preferred salsa hotness? Pet's middle name?"

Mokka's eye seemed to be glowing bright red as the robot studied his own questionnaire. "Approximately 98.99% of the data required is irrelevant to our desired task...or to any subject of importance, for that matter."

"I've heard rumors about the Space Police being idiots and cowards who abuse their power and waste their time on tiny things while turning a blind eye to the real troublemakers." Alaric tapped his pen against the page. "This thing proves it."

After about an hour of writing, the three friends walked back to the reception desk with their over 100 page questionnaires. The trooper behind the desk seemed understandably surprised to see them.

"You...you actually finished it?" The semi-electronic voice exclaimed as their papers were taken and filed away to some unknown place. "Most people give up when the hand cramps set in!"

"Trust me, we were sorely tempted." Lassi said wryly, flexing her fingers and examining the deep red welt on her middle finger.

After a few moments of puttering around the trooper took out a file containing their questionnaires and handed it to Alaric, pointing out the counter on the far left.

Lassi and Mokka hung back as Alaric approached the counter, staggerig slightly under the weight of the papers. "Excuse me?" The mage tapped on the metal countertop, drawing the trooper's attention, and slid the file across the desk.

"Pirates, eh?" The trooper mused, flipping through the file. "That's our specialty. Wait..." He picked up a page and examined it. "It says here that you're from Kovomaka. Kovomaka? Is that even a planet? Well, you're a foreigner and that's a big red flag in our system." He gestured at another counter. "You'll have to show some ID at the immigration counter. Oh, and think LOTS of paperwork."

Feeling rather exasperated and tired at the thought of more paperwork, Alaric waved at his friends to go sit down before heading over to the immigration counter.

"Why are you seeking permanent resident status?" was the first thing the trooper blurted out when he saw the young apprentice.

"Um...no, I'm not seeking permanent residency, only-"

"So you're a tourist?"

"Yes...uh, no. Well, I am from another planet, but I'm not-"

"Why people insist on wasting my time, I have no idea. Go to the Intergalactic Family Fun Tourist Center. They're the second from the right." With that the trooper turned his back and busied himself with his computer, leaving Alaric to sigh and walk across the room.

"Whaddaya want!" The trooper demanded as Alaric opened his mouth. Seeing Alaric's school ID clutched in his hand, the trooper shook his head. "You don't need an ID if you're just a tourist. That's what tourists do. They TOUR around. You seem confused. Or stupid. Either way, you should head to Informational Inquiries. Good day to you."

* * *

By the time Alaric returned to his friends almost an hour later, he found Lassi gazing off into the distance and drooling while Mokka seemed to be counting the number of dust particles on the carpet.

"Well? How was it?" Lassi demanded as Alaric dropped into the seat beside her. "And what happened to you? You look like you just ran through an hellstorm! And...whoa. You look majorly pissed. Never seen you like this before."

"I did, and I am." Alaric said simply. "I went through all the counters on all three floors and in the end had to drag the superintendent away from the bathroom, and guess what? Apparently the kidnapping of people by Astro pirates...does NOT concern the Space Police!" He rolled his eyes and made quotation marks in the air. "The guy said, 'You can file a report if you want. If you bring us the villain, we'll arrest him. Otherwise, forget it'...or something like that. And then something about the Space Police having families and not being able to bravely charge into a villain's hideout because that's just insane. Oh yeah, apparently for everyone's continued safety they have instituted an all-paperwork policy, and the superintendent will be nice enough to file a report for us!"

Alaric took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thoroughly fatigued. Lassi and Mokka exchanged astonished looks - they had never heard their friend speak so many words at once, and in a very annoyed tone at that. For once Alaric sounded like the Dark mage that he was.

"Don't worry!" Lassi patted Alaric's arm. "The Space Police couldn't police their way out of their chairs! If they won't save Miss Madelaine, then we'll do it ourselves!"

"That was SO helpful." Mokka added drily. "It is a good thing you navigated that bureaucratic obstacle course, otherwise this entire visit would have been for nothing."


	3. Surprises

Title: Surprises

Characters: Alaric, Lassi, Pico, Sorbet, Chai, Mokka

Summary: Just another day of spring break...or is it?

* * *

At approximately five minutes to seven a great buzzing noise reverberated through the room, making it sound as if the place had been invaded by a swarm of bees. In reality, however, there was really only one bee - one that was made of metal, wore a dopey little half circle for a smile, and proudly displayed the time on its side.

"I'm awake, I'm awake." Alaric mumbled, and immediately the buzzing cut off. Yawning, Alaric rolled over...

...and fell off his bed, landing on the floor with a muffled thump. This was his usual way of waking up, however, and he simply stretched and yawned again before sluggishly pulling himself to his feet. There was really nothing he would like to do more than curling back up in bed for another few hours or so but today, at least, duty called.

* * *

"WHOA!"

Alaric blinked sleepily and looked down at Pico, who had tripped over his own feet and was now sprawled on the carpet in a most undignified manner. "Good morning to you too, Pico." He said wryly, raising an eyebrow.

"And again...WHOA!" Pico got to his feet and stared at Alaric, eyes bulging and mouth hanging wide open. "It's the middle of spring break and you're up before lunchtime without anyone to wake you. Seriously..._double _WHOA! The world is definitely gonna be ending sometime soon."

"Geez...thanks." Alaric blew at a few strands of hair that had fallen into his face. "So, where is everyone?"

"The girls are out shopping in town," Pico said as the two boys walked down the hall. As they stepped into a square of sunlight Alaric automatically raised an arm to shield his eyes against the sun while Pico laughed and mouthed 'loser'. "Mokka's making preparations of his own - dunno what he's planning - and Chai's over at my place. I was just going to wake you."

"Ah. So...are we actually going to make stuff to eat?"

"Yeah."

"...Can I go back to bed now?"

"NO."

A few minutes later the door burst open and Chai looked up to see Pico stalk in while dragging a very absent-looking Alaric by the back of his shirt. One quick look told the salamander that Pico was on the edge of exploding with annoyance, and that Alaric, while his lethargy was quite real, was also secretly enjoying himself a great deal.

* * *

It was a good thing, Alaric mused, that the dorm rooms were not actually located in the dorm building. Instead, each door led to a small little pocket dimension which contained a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a living room of sorts. Because these dimensions were so easy to create, each student possessed their own apartment-like place. The dimensions were independent from each other and from the building, so basically you could set off a bomb in your room and no one would notice. Just what the boys needed, in case something went horribly wrong.

So far, however, things seemed to be going smoothly. Chai was throwing a bunch of vegetables together to make salad and Pico was studiously attempting to prepare some fish with a cookbook open in front of him. This left Alaric to deal with the...

...the sweets.

"Candy of some sort..." Alaric mused as he ran a finger down the list. "Pico, can't I just grab a bag of sugarstars? ...Um, Pico?"

Turning, he saw the Fire mage hopping about the kitchen, attempting to grab a wildly flopping fish.

"I'll take that as a yes, then. Do you need help?"

"Nah, I'll..." The fish sumersaulted off the counter and bounced off Pico's face to land inside the open cabinet. "MANAGE!" Pico lunged forward and grabbed the creature, which immediately slithered out of his grasp and landed on the floor, forcing Chai to jump over it. Chai's tail smacked into the countertop, upending a bowl of water. Pico suddenly found himself slidding all over the place, soaking wet and still attempting to catch the runaway fish.

"Sorbet's Water magic would come in really handy right about now..." Chai commented, clinging to the counter and watching the fish flop its way under the table. "Hang on, I'll get it." A spell circle blossomed at his feet as the salamander began chanting a spell.

"No! You idiot, what-" Pico yelped and dove to one side as thorny vines erupted from the ground and wall.

Alaric, who was sitting on the couch and pouring sugarstars onto a dish, looked up to see the kitchen completely engulfed by Chai's Briarpatch spell.

* * *

_Out in town..._

Sorbet blinked and looked up at the sky. "That's...weird. Lassi, do you feel that?"

The young rabbitmorph girl gave her human friend a puzzled look. "Feel what?"

"I don't know..." The Water mage shrugged and turned back to examining the window displays. "I just got this feeling that something really weird is going on back at the school."

* * *

"Hey, Pico?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever cooked before?"

"Nope."

"After this, I am _not _letting you near a stove again."

"...Shut up."

Alaric, Chai, and Pico slowly backed away from the kitchen. On the floor tiles, having just squirmed out of the cooking pot, was a huge, mutant fish with slimy scales, razor sharp teeth, and beady red eyes. Oh yes, it was also quite alive and quite eager to exact revenge on the unfortunate soul who had popped it into the cooking pot in the first place - namely, Pico.

"It's kinda cute." Alaric commented, earning him strange looks from his friends. "What?"

"How...on _earth _did you do this?" Chai demanded, his tail swishing back and forth in an agitated manner. "You were supposed to be making fish stew, weren't you?"

"I was!" Pico snapped back. "All I did was add some mercury and element X to the fish before putting them in..."

"Mercury and element X? WHO USES THAT FOR COOKING?" Chai yelped and jumped back as a kitchen stool crashed at his feet.

"Let's just get rid of this thing already!" Pico growled clenching his fists and chanting a spell. He punched his fist forward, causing a stream of flames to erupt from the floor.

"I think you're making it angry~" Alaric observed as the creature roared and slapped violently at the flames.

"Then why don't YOU do something?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Alaric summoned up his spell circle, chanted the first spell which came to mind, and brought his arm forward in a throwing motion. A cube made of pure shadow flew through the air, growing in size and engulfing the mutant fish. Then the shadow die darkened, then exploded in a burst of shadowy sparkles. This was to be expected - what was not expected, however, was the accompanying explosion of fish parts and slime, which effectively covered every surface of the kitchen.

The three boys stared in stunned silence. Or rather, Chai did, while Pico trembled and grew red and Alaric slumped against the wall, struggling to restrain his laughter.

* * *

Sorbet was _not _in the best of moods.

The shopping trip with Lassi had occupied her for most of the day, but now that they had returned to the dorms she was able to think, and when she began to think she inevitably thought of _him_.

They had been made for each other, many people said. Both were Water mages, smart, good students...they shared much of the same interests and even their physical appearances complimented each other nicely. But when Sorbet had finally gathered enough courage to ask him out...

She was rejected. He hadn't even hesitated - just a simple 'no', followed by mocking laughter. For while they had many traits in common, 'kindness' was not one that they shared.

So why can't she get over him?

"Hey, Sorbet!" Lassi poked her on the arm. "Pico said he wanted to show us something. Wanna go?"

"Not really..." Hot-headed Pico was the last person Sorbet felt like dealing with at the moment.

"C'mon! At least it'll give you something to do, right?"

Lassi grabbed Sorbet's arm and dragged her towards the boys' dorm.

It was a simple matter to find Pico's room, although neither of them had been there before. The Fire mage's door was emblazoned with the Fire sigil, and directly above it hung a picture of the fire mage himself.

Lassi had to ring the doorbell three times before the door finally swung open to reveal Alaric. His hair was in a greater disarray than usual and his clothes, a dark blue shirt and beige pants, were disheveled and for some reason contained a large quantity of grayish slime.

"Lassi! Sorbet!" Alaric grinned and stepped to one side. "We were waiting for you! Sorry about the mess..."

The girls stepped in and Sorbet was immediately speechless.

The slime that had covered Alaric seemed to be everywhere, coating the ceiling, walls, and floor, although the furniture at least had been magically cleaned. Pico and Chai grinned and waved at her from the dinner table, both of them in a state similar to Alaric. Sitting on the table was a large, elegant cake - a vanilla ice cream cake, with the Water sigil drawn on with blue icing.

"Hey, Sorbet!" Pico called. "Sorry, we were originally planning to make you an entire dinner and stuff, but things didn't really work out."

Chai coughed and Alaric's mouth twitched.

"So...instead we decided to just buy a cake." Pico gestured. "It's the thought that counts, right?"

"Uh...why...?"

"You seemed really gloomy so we decided to cheer you up." Alaric put in. "It was Pico's idea originally."

"So why don't you cheer up already?" Lassi yanked on Sorbet's hair.

"Doing all this...you didn't need to!" Sorbet insisted, looking around at her gathered friends. As she was about to say more, however, something colorful shot out of the bedroom and ignited in the air, causing a bright pink explosion. Then another shot out, and another.

"These magical fireworks were very hard to find," Mokka said, poking his head around the doorway. "Please admire them."

"Oh, and there's sugarstars!" Chai held up a bag.

"Didn't we buy some snacks this morning? I'll go get them!" Lassi darted out the door and was back within five minutes.

"I think there's soda in the cooler." Alaric picked his way into the ruined kitchen.

"Hurry up and cut the cake!" Pico ordered, pointing at a pile of plates with the knife on top of it.

"Oh yes...and happy birthday, Sorbet!"

The friends' cheers shook the ceiling, causing fishy smelling slime to drip onto the Water mage's hair, but at the moment Sorbet was simply too happy to care.


End file.
